


Dirty Dishes

by misura



Category: Burnt (2015)
Genre: Blow Jobs, Chores, Domestic Bliss, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-17
Updated: 2018-06-17
Packaged: 2019-05-24 14:05:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 834
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14956055
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/misura/pseuds/misura
Summary: "You cook, you clean. A chef's first rule, yes?"





	Dirty Dishes

"Hey," Adam says. "You do the cooking, you _don't_ do the dishes. I mean, that's just fair, isn't it?"

Adam's using his 'I will act like this is not a big deal so that you, too, will think this is not a big deal' voice that he also uses far too often when asking for sex - or, more specifically, for sex at a time and place calculated for maximum inconvenience and/or potential embarrassment if they get caught.

(Tony doesn't mind. Usually. He's waited a long time for this; he's left shame behind a long time ago. Still, he also knows that when it comes to people like Adam, you have to do a bit of taking as well as giving, a bit of 'no' mixed in with all the 'yes, please's.)

Tony shrugs. He's never run his own kitchen as Adam has, but he's not a novice at this particular game.

"You cook, you clean. A chef's first rule, yes?"

Adam scowls. Adam could have washed and dried the dishes in the time it will take this argument to get settled, but where would be the fun in that, the drama? "More like fifth. Sixth, maybe. And that only applies to the kitchen. Where, you know, you're paying me."

Tony smirks.

Adam rolls his eyes. "With money. Because it's my job. As a chef."

Tony's pretty sure that Adam's offered to have sex with him for money at least once. Adam's offered a lot of things to a lot of people in Paris. (Tony was tempted. And still too much of a romantic to say 'yes', but also too insecure to round up a few friends and force Adam to get some help. In hindsight, he feels like maybe those things even out, that he's got nothing to be proud of, and no reason to feel ashamed.)

"It's your turn," he says, because when you live with someone like Adam, the first thing you do is make up a schedule for chores.

"I cooked," Adam counters. Tony's not sure if Adam's ever _not_ going to cook, whether or not it's his turn.

Tony's not a great cook, but he's managed to keep himself fed well enough. If Adam insists on never eating Tony's cooking if he can help it, that's about Adam keeping control, not about Tony being a bad cook. (He is, of course. By comparison. Then again, even a master chef can only do so much with, say, scrambled eggs, or French toast.)

"Your choice, chef. It was a good meal," Tony adds, because fair's fair. "The cinnamon added something interesting. Perhaps a different apple next time."

"Did I ask for a critique?"

Tony knows full well how many of the dishes Adam tries on him end up on the menu. He also knows better than to mention that fact.

"Do the damn dishes, Tony. I'll give you a blow job, after."

Five minutes' work, if that. Hardly worth this much fuss, but then, Tony supposes, that is rather the point. There are subjects, topics, pieces of their history that never ever come up, that they both shy away from. Some things are better left alone, at least when you're still feeling your way into the new order of things that involve having told another human being that there's room for them in your life, provided they agree to make room for you in theirs.

"You'll do that anyway," Tony says, which is not quite true. Likely, though.

When it comes to sex, Adam can be relied upon to reciprocate, to make an effort to 'stay even'. Tony suspects it's a recent development - he can't imagine the Adam he knew in Paris being that considerate, that aware of another person's needs and feelings.

Any regrets he has about the two of them never having become more than sort-of friends in Paris can be countered by that truth. Adam's changed.

Tony's not so vain that he thinks he hasn't changed, too. For the better, he'd like to think - like Adam.

"If you're already growing bored of having sex with me after six weeks, I'm pretty sure this relationship is doomed," Adam says, skirting rather close to one of the Things They Don't Talk About. (Is this thing between them going to last? Are they in it for the long haul?)

"If you insist on arguing every time the schedule says you must do something, right back at you, chef."

"You're seriously turning down a blow job?" Adam asks.

Tony considers. There's the budget to check, a list of vendors to go over, a few customer complaints to evaluate. "A compromise. You wash up, I'll blow you."

Adam swallows. For a man who's spent years and years pretending not to notice Tony's crush on him, Adam's acting strangely like a man wanting to make up for lost time now. "Deal."

Tony relaxes, allowing himself a smile and the illusion that some day, Adam will simply do the fucking dishes when it's his turn.


End file.
